


My Princess

by lextenou



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bondage and Discipline, Caning, Community: Kim Possible Slash Haven, Dubious Consent, F/F, Past Rape/Non-con, Slavery, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 02:20:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lextenou/pseuds/lextenou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assume nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written circa 2004-2005. First two parts are wildly OOC for reasons to be explained in part three. Written as a response to the flood of "leashed" ideas in KP Slash Haven at the time, and as an extended writing exercise.
> 
> The explicit rating and tags are not a joke.

Muffled sounds echoed in her brain and a chill drifted along her skin. The covers must have been thrown off in the middle of the night. She tried to leap upwards and onto the floor to go downstairs and start her day, but was instead treated to the dual harsh shock of immobility and unexpected nudity. A loud clanking of metal against metal was enough to tell her that she was not breaking free just yet.

_Crap. Okay, I was at home, and Mom was making dinner, the Tweebs were watching wrestling, and Dad was working on something in the garage. Did something happen? Obviously. Come ON, remember!_

Silently, senses were extended outward. She was lying on a table that had to have been cold at one point. Body heat had long since warmed it to a tolerable level. There was padding under her hips, soft and reminiscent of lamb's wool, a stark contrast to the slight chill of the table and her exposed skin. Her head was supported, three points of soft pressure telling her she didn't have an option of where to place it. Wrists and ankles were encased in a soft binding that felt like the table padding, gentle and almost sensual.

A breath of warm air ghosted across her nipple and she couldn't stifle the gasp. A dark chuckle sounded from near her right knee.

"Open your eyes, Princess. You can stop pretending you're still out." Eyes opened, levelling a steady glare on the dark woman who spoke. "Welcome to the rest of your life, Princess."

A gentle hand skimmed over naked thigh, running delicately from knee to hip. She gritted her teeth against the sudden rush of heat that bolted through her. What the hell was her body thinking? Trapped and all her body could do was react in a base manner! She did not need this.

"Feel that, Princess? That's your reward for not asking questions yet." The warmth of the hand was gone suddenly and the coldness it left on her skin was only partially a result of the cool air.

A finger ran down the length of her arm. She twitched under the assault, her wrist pulling at the restraints with a clatter. Damn her body for betraying her.

"Mmmm...there's the fire." The smirk in the dark woman's voice was readily audible. "I know you have questions. We'll be having dinner and you will be allowed to ask whatever you like. I will tell you the truth." The damned finger was still tracing over her skin, running over her shoulder and dipping into the hollow of clavicle before returning to the smooth muscle of shoulder. Heat was pooling low in her stomach and she clenched her jaw against it. Regardless of what her body was saying, she was not going to succumb to her captor's wiles.

The warmth disappeared and she was released from her restraints with a clatter. Rolling up from the table, her nipples hardened in the cool air. The dark woman watched her, that damnably insufferable smirk still plastered on her accursed face.

Worry swirled in the depths of her mind, curling into a ball in her gut. What the hell was going on here? She could take the dark woman at her word, or she could beat the crap out of her and take her answers. The low burn of unwanted arousal thrummed in the back of her mind.

Launching herself through the air at her captor, she found herself abruptly body slammed into the floor, air rushing from her lungs. Helpless from the immobilizing lack of breath, she looked up into the face of cold fury.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist, Princess." The calm, conversational tone chilled her. Wasn't she chipped? Couldn't they find her, even without her toys? A tremble of fear danced at the edge of her worry, nudging into her consciousness. "You're lucky I was in a good mood when I decided how I was going to punish you."

She was dropped on the table again, her breath pushed from her lungs, her wrists and ankles returning to their restraints. The headrest was pulled away and her hips were raised to allow the padding to be removed. She gritted her teeth against the sudden chill against her buttocks.

Then her world blossomed with pain. Light, hard, every incarnation in between, the thin switch impacted against the soles of her feet. She tried to curl up, to draw the tender skin away into the protection of the curve of her body, but she was stopped by her restraints. Dear god above, the _pain_...she'd experienced pain before. She'd broken a bone or two, had to reset a dislocated arm. Hell, she'd had an impacted tooth.

They all paled before the tattoo of agony on her feet. Hot tears of frustration and agony edged from her eyes and she keened, unable to stop the wordless pleas for mercy. She'd thought she had a high threshold for pain.

Each swish of the bamboo, brushing almost lovingly against her soles, spoke of a different story.

The switching stopped, but the pain remained, a burn beginning at the soles of her feet and creeping up her body. She cried, helpless before the evidence of her weakness.

Gentle arms wrapped themselves around her and she curled into their offered comfort, uncaring who it was. A warm hand rubbed gentle circles against her stomach. Her nose was buried in hair the color of darkest night, the delicate scent of shampoo caressing her.

"Shh...it's okay, Princess."

She stiffened in the comforting embrace and tried to pull back. Those gentle arms were stronger than they looked and she found herself still pinned against the warm body of her captor.

"Remember this the next time you think about trying to attack me." The hand that had been on her stomach snaked up, wrapping strong fingers around her throat. "It is only through my goodwill that you are still breathing. Do not make me have to regret that decision."

Cowed by the pain that was shooting up from her feet, frightened by the seriousness of her captor's stern gaze, and confused by the situation she found herself in, she nodded in reluctant acquiescence, her sleep addled mind trying to make sense of everything. The dark woman smiled and released her from the table, carrying her to a large bed against one wall. The decadently warm softness was a welcome change from the unyielding cold of the table.

The blankets were arranged around her, leaving her feet exposed. A gentle hand brushed through her loose hair. Her captor left the bed, her weight rolling off of the softness in a fluid movement.

She was exhausted. The crying had drained what energy she had made up in her brief sleep before waking up in the middle of the night on a cold table. This bed was far too comfortable for her to begin to consider moving. A toe twitched and she was abruptly reminded of the other reason why she had been carried and placed here.

"This is going to hurt, Princess. Hold on."

In the next breath, flames of heat spread across her foot as a thick salve was spread on the abused skin. Little needles of agony drilled into her flesh, digging into the nerves and dancing up and down her spine.

She couldn't hold it.

She screamed, merciful blackness swamping over her, carrying her into the unfeeling depths of unconsciousness.

\---

Silence pressed in on her. A gentle touch on her head told her she was not alone. She stiffened slightly, her muscles tensing under the blankets.

"You need food." The commanding tone brooked no argument from her. It sounded almost exactly like the tone her mother used when she neglected herself. Turning her head, she looked up into impassive observance. "For now, you're getting a sandwich. When you're more mobile, we'll see about getting you properly fed."

A plate appeared under her nose and she blinked. The crusty bread, the bright green lettuce, the spicy scent of mustard...

She was suddenly ravenous. She attacked the sandwich, consuming it in large bites. Flavor exploded on her tongue and she moaned low in her throat, eliciting a chuckle from the woman who reclined next to her.

"When you finish, you can ask your first question."

She swallowed and eyed her captor warily. She cleared her throat, and took a breath.

"Are you going to let me go?"

The dark woman smiled slightly, rising up to lean on her elbow. "You have the option of leaving at any time."

She couldn't hide her shock. "What? Why did you hit me, then?"

"You tried to hurt me." Shrugging, she raised an eyebrow in sardonic amusement. "Regardless of whether or not I expected it, you broke the rules."

"Rules? I'm a free person! I don't have any rules! You have no right to touch me like that!"

The dark smile was wide, smug in it's knowing. The mirth in her captor's eyes did nothing to soothe the sudden incensement.

"Leaving aside the fact that this is my house, Princess, I own you."

"WHAT? That is not possible."

The frown on her aristocratic features was as dark as her hair. "Don't accuse me of lying."

"I wasn't."

"You were about to. Don't. I promise you, everything said here is truth. Whether that promise extends beyond these walls relies on you."

She stared at her captor for a long moment, her eyes narrowed into the barest slits. "I have no reason to trust you. I have no reason not to beat you and walk out of here."

"Mmm...you won't."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because...a certain secret global organization of good is the one who delivered you to me." A pale hand slapped over her opening mouth as narrowed eyes leaned in. "Do not call me a liar. You are mine. You were brought here by Global Justice, dropped off in your pajamas, complete with that damnable plush monstrosity you insist on sleeping with."

Her mind swirled with the acclimation of this new information. If what her captor was saying was the truth, then...no! It couldn't be! They would never do that to her...would they? No!

"I'm officially retired now, Princess, because you're here. You are my price. You leave, I get back in the game. Only this time..." Sudden fury flashed in those green eyes, her lip twisting into a mask of seething rage. "There is no one on this Earth that will be able to stop me. Armies will fall before me and nations will beg for my mercy. Mercy that I will. Not. Show." The intense stare met the one from below, connecting deeply. Long fingers slid downwards, over the delicate skin of exposed throat, tracing parallel lines over shoulder and the valley between breasts before coming to rest on a nervous stomach. "Do I make myself clear, Princess?"

She nodded, reluctant to speak and risk that fury being aimed at her. The contact between them was unsettling, nerve wracking and arousing sensation she hadn't thought she could feel. In her current state, she couldn't say that she'd be very effective at trying to escape. Interestingly enough, she couldn't feel the pain from her feet anymore. Whatever that painful salve had been must have been a miracle. It had to be, with as much as it hurt.

"When you're feeling better, we're taking a field trip. You will see that I am not lying to you. If you agree to my terms, I will never lie to you. You will be treated like the Princess you are. You are allowed to walk away whenever you want." A flicker of pain, so quick she thought she had to have imagined it, flashed in the depths of her captor's gaze. "If you do so, anything and everything that happens afterward will be on your head."

"What terms?" Her voice was a bare whisper as she stared up at the growing enigma above her. The warmth of her captors hand burned through the layers of blanket, the steady weight sending illicit thrills through her.

The dark woman's expression shifted, need a stark display on her face. "Stay with me." The hand on her stomach flexed slightly, and she clenched involuntarily below it. "Find out what we're like."

She swallowed with difficulty. It wasn't like this very image had invaded her mind before...late at night...when the world was still and fancy roamed freely.

"H-how long?"

Her captor pulled back slightly, her eyes hooded as she watched for reaction. "Forever."

"If I stay with you...I'll never see my family again?"

The dark woman shrugged. "If you want, I'll take you to them now. They think you're in Siberia, training." A dark eyebrow quirked. "We have our friend Big Brother to thank for that story."

"My friends? School? My life?"

Her captor laughed. "You can still do whatever you want. You just belong to me."

She frowned. Her captor had used those words repeatedly and she was no closer to understanding what she meant by them.

"How, precisely, do I _belong_ to you?"

A slow grin spread across the dark woman's face. A warm hand slid over her stomach, encircling her waist and pulling their bodies flush. Too thin layers of blanket separated her nakedness from the heat of her captor. Gently pressing weight settled over her, connecting their bodies through the layers of cloth, from neck to knee. She swallowed with difficulty.

"It's simple, Princess. You are mine to do with as I please. Whatever I want, whenever I want...however I want it. No one will save you except me. I protect what's mine. You will never want for anything."

"A-anything?" Her muddled mind tried to reason through everything that was being thrown at her, disorientation from the signals her body was sending preventing her from thinking properly.

The dark woman's voice lowered to a sultry purr. " _Anything_ , Princess. If it makes you happy, I will get it for you. Legally. Anything I can give you, I will. All I ask in return is for you to stay with me for the rest of your life."

"Stay with you...for the rest of my life." The dark head nodded once. "To let you do with me as you please. To...use me."

Startled by her captive's bluntness, she pulled back. "If I wanted to, do you think there is anything you could do to stop me, now that you've been given to me?"

"I would fight you."

"You'd lose."

"You wouldn't let me."

Green eyes narrowed on her, and she held her breath as she waited for a response from the mysterious woman who held her here, who had hurt her and tended to her.

After an interminable silence, the woman sighed and turned away.

"Go to sleep. I need to make arrangements for our trip tomorrow. Let me know what you decide." She stood and paused next to bed. "That ugly thing is above the pillows. If you need anything, call me. I'll hear you." She strode over to the door. She stopped at the threshold, her hand on the knob, looking back at the prone woman on the bed. Hooded eyes hid depth of emotion that came through clearly in her soft tone. "Please don't leave me."

The door shut softly behind her, leaving the prone woman puzzled and deeply confused. What had that been about?

She'd been dropped here, somehow, as payment for an early retirement. She was having problems wrapping her mind around that. Why would they do such a thing? Didn't they realize that she had choices? She had free will, she could walk out of here.

She eyed the door and then her feet.

That had truly been...well, both of their faults. She should have waited for the dark woman to throw the first punch before assuming that she was doing something underhanded, and her captor should have used something other than corporal punishment. Granted, given the way she'd awoken, it wasn't hard to understand why she'd been so disoriented. Why had she been naked, anyway?

The attack had been unwarranted, but that did _not_ mean she deserved what had been done to her. She'd have to remember to make the dark woman make amends for that. She should have chosen something else. Hell, she should have just called the cops, if she really was retired.

She wanted out of here. She wanted to know the truth of what was going on, and she needed to talk to a certain eye patched spook to find out. She could only hope that the promises that had been made were true.

Thinking of the promises brought her to the blackmail. Trading her life for the safety of the world? It wasn't, truly, different from what she did on a day to day basis. To not have any choice in it, however, _that_ annoyed the hell out of her. And threatening to raze the earth? What was she, a spurned lover?

She stilled at the thought. The other woman wasn't...now. If the way she'd been acting and her parting words were any indication, however...she would be.

Blinking, things began to click in her mind. That was what she had been missing all this time. The dark woman was acting like she was...well, a princess. A cherished person, as opposed to the bitter enemies that they were. An explanation for the myriad battles they'd engaged in and never seriously harmed on another in...

Unsettled by the revelation and no closer to an answer, she curled up on her side and pulled her plush toward her chest, the events of the night replaying endlessly in her mind.

\---

The dark woman brooded in the dim light of early morning. She had been retired for all of six hours and it felt no different than before.

If it had been a trap, she was certain they would have jumped from the woodwork when she began punishing her...what was she, precisely?

Every word she had spoken was true, and at the same time, not the full truth. She wanted to own the woman in the other room, true, but not this way. She wanted to own her every bit as much as she was owned, as she had always been owned, by that woman.

It would take a long, involved talk to get her to understand. She wasn't sure that she'd ever be forgiven for her actions this night.

She wasn't sure she wanted to be.

If this was to be her punishment for a life of treachery and crime, then so be it. She'd face it head on. She'd do what she could to make her new companion's life a pleasant one.

If she needed to, she'd even invite the buffoon and his pink thing.

She sighed deeply, running a hand through her hair, pushing it over her shoulder. This had not been what she'd expected when she'd received the vidcall earlier.

_beep-beep._

_beep-beep._

_"What do you want?" She glared at the sudden appearance of the eye patched woman on the vidscreen. "I haven't done anything."_

_"We both know that's not true."_

_She snorted. "Whatever. I'm hanging up now."_

_"Then you're not interested in our proposition?"_

_She eyed the packet of papers that had been delivered to her an hour previous. The stark black of the print proclaimed her name, age, residence, and a complete list of her crimes. At the top were the two words that had caused her no small consternation._

_Full pardon._

_"I fail to see what I get out of this."_

_"A death from old age."_

_"And if I were...intrigued by this thought, what makes you think I would take you up on it?"_

_The woman on the vidscreen raised a shoulder in a negligent shrug. "Name your price."_

_She snorted and named the first thing to come to mind, something so impossible they'd never agree to it. "Kim Possible."_

_A slight smile curved the lip of the woman on the vidscreen as she dipped her head in acknowledgment. "Very well. Expect a package within a few hours."_

_The screen went black._

_"Wait, what? No!" Gritting her teeth in frustration, she drove her hand through the vidconsole._

True to their word, within a few hours, a sleeping woman had appeared on her doorstep.

With as easily as they had agreed, she fully expected this to be a trap. Unfortunately, so far, it didn't appear to be.

Unless the trap hadn't sprung yet.

Worry gnawed at her stomach, a frown staring out at the slowly lightening sky.

\---

The rich scent of coffee and pancakes drifted under her nose, rousing the sleeping woman from the fitful sleep she'd succumbed some short time before dawn.

"Morning, Princess. How you feeling?"

She stiffened at the sound of the voice, forcibly restraining herself from leaping from the bed. She wasn't sure that her feet were healed yet. She hadn't come to any further conclusions the night before, with the exception of the certainty that she did not have the full story.

She turned over, opening her eyes to see her captor standing next to the bed with a breakfast tray. "As well as can be expected for being kidnaped and delivered to my arch foe by an organization I thought was my ally."

The dark woman winced and placed the tray on the bed. "Uh, yeah. We'll be leaving after breakfast. Your feet aren't healed yet, so I'm going to have to carry you." The woman looked away. "I'm sorry."

With that, she fled the room, her gait almost fast enough to be considered running. The woman on the bed blinked and looked down at the tray covering her knees.

Breakfast in bed? An apology?

What game was she playing? Weren't they enemies, for crying out loud?

Well...not if the situation was as it had been explained to her. She sighed deeply and drew the tray toward herself. At the least, she'd need the coffee. She was not used to being carted around in the middle of night and having her sleep interrupted.

\---

The dark woman had spoken very little when she'd returned with clothes for her captive. Awkwardly, she'd asked if the prone woman needed to use the restroom.

It had been embarrassing and humiliating for the injured woman, though judging by the blush that didn't leave the darker woman's cheeks, it was just as bad for her.

She'd dressed with little difficulty, her shirt and pants sliding on easily over the utilitarian underwear that had been delivered for her use. The clothes still had tags, and a receipt had been placed among them, showing her that the dark woman had kept her word and obtained these legally.

"I'm ready."

The dark woman re-entered the room. Her gaze darted all over the room, refusing to connect with the now dressed woman on the bed.

"Our ride's ready."

"Are you okay?"

The dark woman chuckled. "Not in the least. Come on, then."

She was hefted into the air, held against the svelte frame of her captor. Strong hands adjusted their grip, careful to not jostle any part of her and to stay away from delicate areas.

Their transportation was a standard issue hovercraft. She was settled in the passenger seat, her seat belt buckled for her. She raised an eyebrow at that. Without a word, a scrap of paper was shoved into her hands.

She frowned as she read the receipt for one standard hovercraft, glancing over at the dark woman next to her.

She hadn't been kidding.

Deep in thought, she sat back and waited to find out what sort of trip they were taking. Inexplicably, everything was conspiring to make the dark woman more intriguing. Curiosity about their destination weighed heavily on her mind, but the official packet bearing the distinctive stamp of the very people who had delivered her to her current situation was enough for her to be fairly certain of where they were headed, so she kept her questions to herself for now.

\---

"You're early."

A dark eyebrow raised. Not the reception she had expected. "Had to prove a point."

"Is there any particular reason why you carried her?"

One cotton clad shoulder lifted in a negligent shrug. "She's not allowed to walk yet."

"I see."

"She has some questions. I'd... _appreciate_ it if you answered them honestly."

The eye patched woman behind the desk dipped her head in acknowledgment. "Anything she is cleared for."

"I would expect nothing less. You will contact me when everything is in place?"

"Cold cuts as always. Expect a package with the date."

She gave a single nod before she turned on her heel and stalked from the office, a dark eye tracking her egress.

\---

"It's a pleasure to see you again, though I wish the circumstances were...more fortuitous for you."

The woman frowned, watching the imposing woman behind her desk. "So it's true then?"

"That we exchanged you for her retirement? Yes."

She exploded, the anxiety and deprivation of the last twelve hours bursting from her in a flood. "How could you _do_ that? Didn't you think to _ask_ me? I would have said yes!"

"To be perfectly blunt, we had no indication of your willingness." The cold eyes narrowed slightly as the eye patched woman smiled. "It is a pleasant surprise to see you alive and well."

"You expected her to _kill_ me?! And you sent me ANYWAY?!"

"I'm sure you know her well enough to know the consequences if we didn't reach an agreement."

"...Yes, I do."

"Then you can see that we have no choice."

"I can see that you're not who I thought you were." She narrowed her eyes at the woman behind the desk, wondering if the one eyed woman had always been this way. "I'd like to leave now."

The door opened behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know it was the dark woman, come to retrieve her as she wished.

\---

She sat in the hovercraft, fuming silently as the ground fell away beneath them. They reached cruising altitude and she exploded.

"How _dare_ they!"

Slender fingers twitched on the controls at her shout.

"I've got half a mind to go back there and...grargh!"

They flew in silence for a few miles.

Next to her, the dark pilot cleared her throat. "Do you want to go home?"

She blinked. "What? To your place?"

"No. To your family."

She stared at the pale woman, caught flat footed by the unexpected offer. "As much as I'd like to, I don't trust," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "them anymore. I can't be guaranteed that they won't do it again, and if I'm with you, then my family is also safe."

A slow nod indicated the pilot's understanding of her thought processes. "Did you want to pick up your things, then? Visit them?"

She smiled slightly. "Why are you being sweet?"

"What? I'm not sweet."

"Yes, you are. You've been nothing but sweet this morning. If it weren't for these," she gestured to her feet, "I'd be hard pressed to believe you hadn't been mind controlled."

The dark woman snorted in self-deprecating laughter, steering the hovercraft toward the mountain ridge that edged the city. "Glad to see I didn't dissappoint you."

"No...just confused."

A deep sigh slumped the simply clad shoulders. "I'm sorry, alright? I didn't know if we were being watched. I still don't. For all I know, they chipped you and are listening to me now."

She blinked as the hovercraft drew to a stop, lowering to the ground in a controlled descent. She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came.

"Come on, Princess." She was scooped out of her seat and cradled against the dark woman's chest.

"Kimberly Anne Possible! You know how I feel about circus folk!" Her transportation rolled her eyes.

"She's not a circus performer, Dad."

"What's with the costume, then? And aren't you supposed to be in Siberia? What happened to your feet?"

She sighed. "Costume party, I'm back early, and I stepped on something I shouldn't have. Is Mom home?"

Her brothers squealed around the corner, a flying scrap of metal hovering over their heads. She eyed it warily and spoke softly to the woman who held her. "Watch out."

A gentle squeeze told her that the strong frame would be ready to dodge anything that flew at them.

"You have some explaining to do, young lady." Her father stepped away from the door, allowing her brothers to take in the full sight of the two women.

"Hicka-bicka boo?"

"Hoo-sha."

The two turned and scampered away, presumably to continue working on some crackpot idea. She rolled her eyes as she and her conveyance were directed to the living room.

"Honey? Kimmie-cub is home!"

"I'll be right there!"

She was gently placed on the couch, her back against the armrest to allow her legs to extend along the length of the couch. The dark woman perched awkwardly at the other end of the couch. Her father eyed them cautiously.

"Kimmie! And Shego! What's going on?" The last time her mother had seen the dark woman, it had been on a high speed train.

"It's okay, Mom. She's retired." She resisted the urge to glance over at the woman, instead keeping her eyes trained on her parents. "I'm moving out."

"Are you sure? You're a month away from gradation, and then it's off to college. Why don't you just wait until then?" Her father canted his head to the side, a confused smile on his face.

Pressure against her ankle drew a glance to the dark woman. A slight frown on her face told her that she probably should have mentioned some of this to her before they came in here.

"Yes, I'm sure. I can't get into it right now, but I'll be close by."

"What does she have to do with this?" Her mother indicated the quiet woman on the couch.

"She's my new roommate."

"Roommate? Are you sure, Kimmie? She's a villain! She's been trying to take over the world!"

The silent woman shifted, resting her elbow on the armrest of the couch and leaning her head on her hand.

"Former villain, Mom. She's retired."

"I don't like this one bit. Why are your feet wrapped?"

She sighed. "I stepped on something I shouldn't have. It's fine, Mom. I need to get my stuff so we can get going. I haven't settled in yet."

"And what part do you play in this?" Her dad turned his stern gaze on the dark woman.

She raised a shoulder negligently, boredom lacing her tone. "I need a roommate. Your daughter...volunteered."

She clenched her jaw, nudging the insufferable woman's wrist with her ankle. The beginnings of a smirk threatened to quirk the full lips.

"I'm not sure about this, Kim. Are you positive?"

She nodded, stubborn will lining her jaw. "I'm more certain than I've been about anything else."

"What about saving the world?"

"She'll still be doing that." The other woman interjected smoothly. "As soon as she's recovered."

She almost shook her head at the sudden smack of surrealism upside her head. Shoving it aside, she returned her gaze to her parents.

"I'm going to have to ask you to trust me on this. I know what I'm doing." _Mostly,_ she thought.

Her parents exchanged a worried look.

"Very well, Kimmie-cub. Did you need any help moving?"

"Thank you, sir." She blinked at the dark woman. Did she just call her father 'sir'? Definitely surreal. What the _hell_ was she getting herself into? Why was she lying so easily to her parents?

The sudden flash of how she'd woken up in the middle of the night last night reminded her. She supressed a shiver and clenched her jaw.

It was for their safety.

\---

Between the efforts of her father and the mobile woman, she was packed up quickly. She snagged her phone while they were loading the hovercraft.

"Hey, what's up? I thought you were in Siberia."

She sighed and smiled sardonically at the young computer genius on the screen. "I'm back. Do me a favor and do a scan on me and let me know if you find anything that's not supposed to be there? And see about getting me a new Kimmunicator?"

"Sure thing. Arm's length, please." A blue glow emanated from the device, running from head to toe. The boy frowned as the initial information scrolled across his screen. "Do I want to know why your feet are like that?"

"I stepped in something I shouldn't have."

He nodded. "I'll contact you as soon as I know anything."

"Please and thank you." She clicked it off. As soon as he got back to her, she'd scan her companion. One could never be too careful, especially considering the events of the last day.

"Ready, Princess?"

Her father raised an eyebrow at the pet name, looking back and forth between the two of them. She could see the gears turning in his head and when he looked at her again, she shook her head slightly. He frowned in confusion.

"I'm ready." She waved her father close, pulling him into a hug. "I'll call you when I get settled."

"I don't like this, Kimmie-cub, but I trust your judgment. Love you!"

His waving form shrunk as they ascended into the sky, disappearing behind the trees.

As soon as her childhood home was out of sight, a dark chuckle sounded from the pilot.

"Roommates?"

She shrugged. "Can you think of a better explanation?"

"Nope. Your dad thinks I'm an evil converter, though."

She looked away. "Yeah, well, I can't exactly tell him how things really are. All things considered, him thinking I've embraced the love that dare not speak it's name is the least of my problems."

"And how is that, Princess?"

She blinked. "I was kidnaped at your request by GJ and now I'm staying with you."

Knuckles gripped the steering wheel, turning white from the pressure.

"I see." They flew in silence for a long moment. "I'm not the villain here. I asked for you because I never thought they'd give you to me."

"You asked for something impossible?"

"Pretty much. I don't trust them."

"After this, I don't either."

They looked at each other, smiling at their unexpected agreement.

"So now what?" She looked down at her hands. "Are we friends? Roommates? Am I your slave?"

Harsh laughter barked from the dark pilot. "That's up to you, Princess. Are you agreeing to my terms?"

"Considering that I don't think you'd destroy the world?"

The dark woman grinned. "Sure about that?"

"Yes."

She sighed heavily, cursing that she was so transparent to this woman. "Think what you like, Princess. Are you staying with me or not?"

"Might as well make the lie be truth and be roommates." The dark woman's knuckles tightened around the steering wheel as her passenger continued speaking. "Besides, at this point, you're the safest alternative."

The pilot snorted in laughter as she lowered the hovercraft into an open roofed garage. "Whatever you say, Princess."

"After all, you did this," she gestured at her feet, "because you couldn't be sure that I wasn't a plant."

The mobile woman took her into an embrace, cradling her in a strong grip. "I still can't be sure."

"Would a scan from Wade help?"

"Your computer geek? Do you trust him?"

"With my life."

A dark eyerow quirked. "Yes."

The smile that was turned on her was enough to make her have to concentrate on not tripping.

\---

"Hey, Wade. What's the sitch?"

"I've run it through everything. You're clean."

"Favor?"

"Name it."

"Do one more scan?"

"Sure. You again?"

"No...trust me on this." She turned the device to show her companion. She could hear her techie's spluttering. "Seriously. I need you to trust me."

"Alright, Kim. I don't like it at all, but okay. Point it at her."

She did so, the blue glow sweeping the sardonically smirking woman from head to toe. She tracked the flow of the glow across the length of her body with her eyes.

"I'll get back to you."

"Please and thank you. And Wade? Don't tell Ron. He needs to hear this from me."

With that, she ended the call.

"You have the strangest friends."

She rolled her eyes. "Like you're one to talk, Miss 'I hang out with the Billionaire's Club'."

A pale hand waved off the statement. "Yeah, yeah. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted and hungry. And I have to use the little girl's room."

"You like movies?"

"What do you have?"

"Indies."

She laughed. "Trust you to be difficult. What kind?"

Shrugging, the other woman tried inspecific. "Stuff." A quirked eyebrow had her confessing. "Lesbian ones."

She laughed again. "Make it a funny one and you've got a deal."

The dark woman grinned widely. "I've got just the thing."

\---

She was pondering the front cover of the DVD she'd chosen when the dark woman heard the distinctive tinkling crash of breaking glass. She ran up the stairs to the bathroom, where she'd left her new roommate.

The door was closed, as she'd left it. Uncertain, she knocked.

"Go away!" The voice was muffled.

"What's wrong, Princess?" She reached for the knob. "If you don't open the door, I'm coming in." There was no answer from the woman on the other side.

Cautiously, she opened the door. Glass shards littered the floor and sink. She blinked as she recognized the deep blue fragments. She'd liked that glass.

She opened the door fully and spotted a huddled mass next to the tub, shaking. She strode towards her, glass crunching unheeded underfoot. "Princess? Want to tell me what's wrong?" She reached out to lay a reassuring hand on the shuddering shoulder before her.

Her hand was slapped away as a tear streaked face was turned on her. "It's all your fault!"

She blinked at the vehement accusation. "What?"

"It's all your fucking fault! If it wasn't for you, I'd be at home, with my family, watching TV! I wouldn't have to worry that everything I said was being recorded by someone I _trusted_ until this morning!" The fire of her anger drew her to her feet until she was yelling in the dark woman's face. "You _hurt_ me!"

Anger, righteous and intense, flared to dark life within the accused woman. "I can't _trust_ you!"

"That's no reason to beat me!"

"How the fuck else am I supposed to find out if you're a double agent? I still have no idea! You could kill me in my sleep tonight, as far as I know!" The tiled walls of the bathroom reflected their shouts, battering their ears with acoustic reverberations. They glared at each other across the scant space between them, the words they'd shouted sinking in to each other.

She inhaled sharply, glaring at the dark woman through her tears. "That's low."

"Yeah, well, it's the truth, Princess."

"Screw you."

"Thanks so much for your vote of confidence."

" _Fuck_ you!"

"You offering, Princess?" She sneered at the tearful woman. "I sure as hell can't trust you, but I'm more than willing to bang you all night."

The sharp crack of her hand against the dark woman's cheek sounded loudly in the confined space of the bathroom. She breathed heavily in the still air, frustrated anger still riding high.

The dark woman's eyes had closed with the force of her blow. The pale face turned back to her, and deeply expressive eyes opened again, sucking her in.

Pain. Regret.

Guilt.

Before either of them could say a word, the doorbell rang.

\---

"What's the sitch, Wade?" She leaned against the doorway. Twinges of pain were beginning to shoot up from her feet. After the scene in the bathroom, she hadn't felt comfortable accepting the dark woman's help and had awkwardly hobbled her way out of the bathroom and down the stairs. When she'd opened the door, a hovering vidscreen met her, the familiar visage of her techie greeting her with a smile.

"Just delivering your new hardware." The vidscreen sprouted a prehensile metal arm with a new Kimmunicator in it's pincers. "Want a new scan?"

"Please and thank you." Exhausted by the show of emotion and the effort of walking downstairs, she slumped against the doorjamb as the blue glow swept her body. She didn't turn around when it swept over the warm body hovering just behind her.

"Still have the old one?" It appeared next to her, held in one long fingered hand. She stared at that hand as the older model was scanned, remembering the gentleness it was capable of, and the cruelty.

The clack of the IBM model M keyboard he insisted on using sounded loudly, intruding on her thoughts. "Prelim shows that you were right to call for a new one. The passive circuit's been activated and is transmitting to GJ HQ."

A sizzle of air and the crackling of melting metal and plastic announced the sudden, unceremonious end to the old model.

Her techie blinked for a moment at the display of raw power. The pale hand plucked the new model from the pincers of the vidscreen. "I guess that's taken care of. I'll get back to you in a little bit with the rest of the results. Oh, and call Ron. He's getting antsty over at BN headquarters."

With that, the vidscreen flew off. She stared after it for a long moment.

"Come on, Princess. You shouldn't be standing yet." The weary, tired tone drew her gaze to the dark woman. Her cheek was reddened, the imprint of her hand almost clearly defined on the pale skin.

She turned away and nodded, unable to look at the evidence of her rash impulsiveness.

Slowly, awkwardly, she turned toward the couch. The twinges were becoming fully fledged shafts of pain, arcing up through her calves and thighs. She winced as she took another step.

With a sigh, the dark woman scooped her up and strode to the couch. She refused to look at her burden, depositing her gently on the cushions without a word. She pulled away, dropping the new phone on the table. She was turning to leave when a gentle hand touched her forearm.

"I...I'm sorry."

A dark chuckle sounded from the somber woman. "After what I did to you, it's the least you could do." She turned her gaze away. "Can I get you anything?"

"No. Thank you." Her voice was subdued, quiet. She drew her hand back, laying it on her stomach. Leaning back against the cushions, she closed her eyes and rested.

\---

When she returned with a beverage, her new roommate was in a light doze. She watched the younger woman for a long moment before picking up the cell phone and returning to the kitchen. Dropping heavily into a chair, she stared at the device in her hand.

Much was happening, far too quickly for either of them to adjust. By the end of the night, her feet should be fully healed, in no small part thanks to the salve used to treat her immediately after.

The dark woman raised her gaze, staring absently at the wall. She didn't deserve to be forgiven for her actions. She had gone too far. Anything that she got in return was only just.

She had hurt her. She was enamored with her, and she'd hurt her unforgivably.

Taking a deep breath, she thumbed the power button and pulled up the contacts, selecting the boy who'd built the device in the first place.

"What'd you need?"

She stared at the vidscreen, trying to wrap her mind around the situation she found herself in. Calling her nemesis' geek in order to get help...

"Get the boy. She needs someone who's...not me." Her jaw clenched as she spoke the last words, wishing that the pain of them would alleviate.

"Sure. Your place?"

"Might as well. Everyone seems to know we're here, anyway."

The techie laughed. "Yeah, looks like. Her scan came up clean, by the way. So far, yours is looking the same way, just have the final bit...there we go. Yep, both clean."

She raised an eyebrow. "There wouldn't happen to be-"

"There sure is. Push the big green button."

She grinned maliciously and mashed the button with her thumb. "Excellent. I assume I'll need to walk through the house with it?"

"Sadly. Still not powerful enough to do a full scan from a single location." He tapped a few keys. "Bonus is, though, I can track it from here and let you in on anything. I should be able to get you two some countermeasures within a few hours."

She blinked, stunned by his offer.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you helping me?"

He shrugged. "She trusts you. That's enough for me."

"What if I was coercing her? Did you ever think of that, buddy boy?"

"I did. I also dismissed it. There's nothing in your psych workup to show any indications of that. You like a challenge."

She glared at him. "Fine."

He shrugged again. "Like I said...she trusts you. There's no higher stamp of approval."

"Mmmm."

"Just walk around. If I find anything, I'll beep you."

"...Thanks."

Before she could think too deeply on what she was accepting so easily, she ended the call and strode through her house. Kitchen, pantry, laundry room, garage, basement, living room, den, hallway, stairs, bedrooms, bathrooms...

She passed through them all without incident. Silently padding through the comforting familiarity of her house, she stopped at the head of the stairs, leaning heavily against the wooden banister.

A muffled chirp sounded from the device in her hand. She touched a button and a text message popped up.

_House is clean. Keep an eye on the garage. Package due within ten minutes._

Closing her eyes, she hung her head, the device held limply in her hand.

Mother grabbing son of a bastard.

She did not look forward to this next bit.

Padding downstairs, she returned to the couch where her roommate dozed lightly. While she'd been scanning the house, the woman on the couch had torn a cushion free, hugging it tightly to her chest. A twinge in her chest almost had the conflicted woman turning away from the welcome tableau.

"C'mon, Princess. You're going to want to be awake for this." A gentle shake of the shoulder had confused eyes trained on her.

"What's the sitch?" Slurred, her eyes still heavy with sleep, there was nothing more enticing to the kneeling woman than the woman rising to lean on her elbow against the armrest of the couch. Her hair tousled just enough to make her ache to run her fingers through it, her lips pouty and full...

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes against the temptation that danced before her eyes.

"We'll be having company in a few minutes. I figured you'd rather be presentable than asleep."

"Gee, thanks."

The dark woman shrugged. "I could have just not told you."

"You really suck, did you know that?"

A wry smirk edged at her mouth. "I've been told that before." She stood abruptly. "You'll be up and around again tomorrow. I'll take the bandages off before you go to bed and check, just in case." She turned away, tension making her body stiff. She stared at the floor, the woman on the couch barely visible out of the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry. I had to know. If I didn't have that salve, you wouldn't be walking for another week." She turned her head away, looking at the far wall. "I'll...leave you alone...with your guest."

With that, she strode from the room, her jaw firmly clenched against the pain that tore at her soul. A crash from the garage told her that it was showtime. Long strides saw her to the door leading to the garage, and she threw it open.

"She's on the couch through there. She's been through a lot."

She turned and fled upstairs, leaving a confused young man and naked mole rat sitting in a pile of lawn care implements.

\---

The door closed with a soft snick, long fingers brushing against the painted wood. In the other room, the woman she'd agreed to change her entire life for, the woman who mattered more than anything else in the world...

That woman was most likely denouncing her as the blackest villain to ever walk the Earth. She closed her eyes, jaw clenching against the sudden flash of pain.

No.

This wasn't going to work.

She'd thought it might, when she'd started this. God, had it really just been last night? It couldn't have been less than a full day since her world had changed so completely. It couldn't possibly have all happened so quickly.

With a frustrated growl, she pushed her hair over one cotton clad shoulder, glaring at the mirror that peeked through the open door to the bathroom.

The image that stared back at her was of a woman who was quickly becoming a stranger, a woman who had thought that _hurting_ the woman she loved was an effective way to deal with her!

Eyes closed against the image, not wishing to look at the monstrosity she was becoming.

This was definitely not going to work.

\---

"KP!" The familiar tenor was a shock to her tired system, bringing a rush of adrenaline that perked up her heartbeat, and an unknown reserve of energy to come to the fore.

"Ron?"

The steady tread of his booted feet echoed in the narrow hallway. A blonde head poked around the corner, a naked mole rat peering over the crown of his skull.

"KP?"

"Ron." She stared at him for a moment as an avalanche of thought and emotion flooded her. He was here. _She_ had known. _She_ had called him here, and left them to talk.

 _She_ was a fucking mystery and it was going to drive her crazy.

A loud chittering near his ear drew his attention to the bandages that covered her feet. "What happened to your feet? And why is-"

"It's a long story."

\---

A bare fist impacted heavily against the wall, a concussion forming in the plaster. Eyes dark with malicious thought stared at the light covering of dust that settled over her hand.

It would feel good to go into a frenzy of destruction, the aural bliss of the screeching of nails against wood as boards succumbed to the force of her will, the satisfying muffled crack of breaking through drywall...

It would feel good, but she'd already have to spend money on contractors in order to fix the damn wall. She really didn't want to have to invest in a total remodel. She had enough problems finding an honest plumber.

With a frustrated sigh, she pushed away from the wall. She needed to think this through for once.

She'd hurt her. She'd done the single most outrageous thing she could think of in order to prove to herself that the woman she was dangerously close to loving was trustworthy.

She hadn't needed to. Should've just trusted her to begin with; everything would be much simpler then. She should never have requested her, not even as a joke.

She really should have retired a long time ago.

\---

"She did _what_? And you _let_ her?"

She rolled her eyes. "So not the drama. It was just up the stairs."

"But still, Kim! Carrying you? Taking care of you? Are we sure she hasn't been mind controlled?"

"Ron!"

"It's a distinct possiblity!"

"Really, Ron. Don't be a queen."

"Please, Kim, this is so _not_ queenly." He rested a limp hand on her knee, pouting prettily. "This is queenly, dahling."

She couldn't help the giggles that erupted from her. She'd missed the steadying prescence of her best friend, even though she'd seen him the day previous.

"I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I have the distinct feeling that when I find out, I'm not going to like it at all." She stared at the blank screen of the television, her distorted reflection frowning back at her. "She's not treating me at all like what I'd expect. From almost the moment I got here, something's been off and I can't figure it out."

He nodded, rubbing his bare chin. "Could it have something to do with the whole 'not trying to kill you' bit?"

She laughed shortly. "Might. Might have something to do with her carrying me, tending to me..." _Even though she's the one that caused me to need her like this, so I really shouldn't be thinking like this, anyway. God, she's throwing me all sorts of off balance. What rules is she making up?_

"And you're sure there's no option for mind control?"

"Ron! Give up on the mind control!"

He held up his hands, placating her ire. "I'm just saying...it's either gotta be mind control or GJ's got some plan in the works. Oooh, like forcing you two to team up and work for them!"

"Seriously...you are a dork. Where in the hell did you come up with that, Weird Tales 'R Us?"

He shrugged. "It could happen!"

"In some freaky alternate dimension, maybe! I'm...I _was_ her prisoner. Now, I'm her roommate. I don't know how we've gotten to this, but I know it's playing Twister with my head." She rubbed her forehead, leaning back into the cushions of the couch. "Do you know what she calls me?"

"Kim?"

"Do you, like, not pay attention during fights? At all?" He blinked blankly at her. "She calls me Princess."

He snickered. "Kinky."

"Ron! It's not like that! She...we...shut up, Ron."

Grinning, the young man glanced over at his pet, perched on the prone woman's knee. The bare skinned rodent grinned back, the glint of knowledge in his black eyes.

Kinky, indeed.

Brooding heavily, she stared at the reflection of the light against the glass of a flower print near the entrance to the kitchen. The bright swath of white against the plumage of foliage was almost soothing in it's plainness.

The more she tried to puzzle out her captor - dammit, her roommate - the more she tried to figure her out, the more she was confused and twisted by conflicting messages. She'd been beaten, first thing, then she'd been treated well. She'd been a prisoner in a gilded cage, and then abruptly, not a prisoner but...something other.

The actions of a certain secret organization had sparked a deep anger, a virulent eruption brewing in her emotions. Edgy and tense, she had exploded, melted, earlier in the bathroom. God, why had she _said_ that? Was she really interested...that way?

She'd never really given any signals either way, had she?

Had she?

She couldn't be sure. Everything was far too confusing for her to make any semblance of sense out of it.

She really needed to find out what the hell was going through the other woman's mind.

A hand rested on her thigh, just above her knee. She raised her gaze to meet the smiling brown of her best friend. Tension eased, allowing her to smile at him, balance returning to her muddled thoughts.

\---

A fist clenched on the balcony above. Stepping around the corner to see her smiling at _him_ was not on her list of things to do. Regardless, she'd emerged to see a joy she had never been graced with turned on that...irritant.

Knuckles turned white from the pressure, her fingernails carving into her palms. Her jaw creaked as she clenched reflexively, staring at the two having a quiet conversation on her couch.

No matter how much it hurt, she had to let her choose her own way.

Turning, she strode back to her bedroom, the stray thought to be a proper host fleeing into the midday sun.

She escaped into the sanctity of the simple room, thick carpeting under her bare feet. The high bed, covered by the last remnant of her life with her brothers, was a mute testament to the teenager she'd been, a connection to the life she'd left behind. A connection to the family she'd known and loved before things changed.

The walls bore a mixed array of art, of the expensive and the childish. A line drawing from her childhood occupied a place of honor next to her prized print of Caravaggio's "Sleeping Cupid". The print of his "Betrayal of Jesus" hung next to the print of Leonardo's Venuvian Man in the den. In the corner, next to the tall bookcase, was a distinctly Eastern print, expansive mountains in watercolor, with the tiny speck of a fisherman near the bottom. Inscribed on the custom piece was a quote she had come across many years before that still rang true for her to this day.

"Life rushes onward like a galloping horse, changing in every instant, and you ask me what one should and shouldn't do! Respond to the constantly changing circumstances in the immediacy of the moment. What else can you do?"

Ascribed to Chuang Tzu, the years since she had commissioned the piece had only made the simple statement all the truer. She stared at the piece now, many seasons having aged the paper in it's simple frame. She supposed she could have protected it beneath glass, hidden it away from the light. If she had done that, however, she couldn't draw peace from it as she did now.

With a deep breath, she turned away and flopped onto her bed. In another hour, she'd go back downstairs and see if they were done talking. Until then, she'd lay here and try to convince herself that the joy she'd seen on the other woman's face hadn't been nearly as happy as she'd thought.

\---

The minutes turned over, inexorably moving time forward. She hadn't moved in a great many of them, curled up on her side, staring at the blinking red light of her bedside alarm clock. About a half hour previous, she'd absently wished that she'd gotten an old fashioned wind-up clock so she could listen to the ticking of the seconds gone by.

With a heavy sigh, she rose from the bed.

Time to see what the Princess and the sidekick were up to.

She paused at the balcony, again arrested by the sight below. Tousled red hair half hid the peaceful features of the sleeping young woman on the couch, again with a cushion pressed to her chest. Pain clutched in her chest, a pale hand gripping the balustrade tightly.

Silently, she descended the stairs and covered her new roommate with a warm, soft blanket. She tucked in the corners around the sleeping woman tenderly before upwrapping her feet. It appeared her earlier statement was true. By nightfall, her feet would feel no worse than if she'd remained on them all day. By midnight, she'd be back at a hundred percent.

\---

The jangle of the phone jarred her from an all too pleasant dream involving a redhead and a certain pair of well worn jeans she'd happened to catch a glimpse of once.

"H'lo?"

"Your services are needed."

She stiffened at the familiar tones. "I was given to understand that I had a month."

"Plans change. Be here within ten minutes, _with_ your roommate."

The abrupt click of the line disconnecting prevented the woman on the other end from learning new words.

\---

Bright green eyes tracked her movements as she angrily strode down the stairs.

"Time to get up, Princess. Our presence has been requested." The venom of the final word did more than enough to convey precisely what she thought of the summons.

"By who?"

She smirked. "Our favorite secret organization, of course."

"Screw them."

"Can't. I have a contract."

"I don't. I'm not leaving."

She sighed heavily, rubbing her pale forehead "Look, Princess, I don't have time to argue with you. We have to be there in," she glanced at the clock on the DVD player, "eight minutes and counting. I really don't want to find out what they're going to do if we're not there."

"Fine." The woman on the couch rose, glaring at her companion. "But you owe me even more."

Eyes narrowed on her. "How're the feet?"

"Never felt better."

"Good."

\---

They flew to headquarters in silence, the still night air chilling their cheeks. Glancing over at the woman she'd been dreaming of, she couldn't help but blurt the truth.

"I have a contract with them. I'm part time. Part of the contract includes you...as my partner." Nothing more than silence emanated from the seat next to her. "It also said I had a month with you before we were to be called in at all."

The words spoken were calm and measured. "I'm going to fucking kill you."

She snorted in laughter. Death could not be worse than this hell she was residing in presently.

\---

Their mission packet was shoved at them before she could turn the hovercraft off. Her companion had accepted it with an icy thanks and waited until they were in the air again before calmly and deliberately tearing into it.

"Rogue mercenaries in the Arctic Circle."

"Goddammit. I hate the cold."

The incensed passenger snorted, crossing her legs as she continued reading the packet.

"Looks like they're upset because they haven't been paid in two months. They have the plans for some big project with a codename, Shining Fury, whatever that is."

Snorting at the dark humor she took in her companion's assessment, she guided the hovercraft toward the icy North. Amateurs.

\---

Silently, the hovercraft drifted to the ground, alighting on the packed layers above the permafrost. Over the next dune, the barracks of the mercenaries erupted from the hard snow. A single guard stood at attention at the doorway, his gun held at a perfect forty five degree angle across his body.

"Do you want front or back?"

She smirked, pushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "I've been known to take the back door on occasion."

Bright green eyes rolled at the poor joke. "Just try not to kill anyone."

"You know I don't work that way, Princess."

Then she was gone, running low over the blinding white snow.

\---

She stood, breathing heavily, her hands held above her head as she glared at the man holding the distinctively snub P90, his twitching finger on the trigger.

Infiltration from the front had been all too easy. She'd taken out a good fifteen of the platoon before she'd been forced into this impasse. She did not trust the glint of hungered madness in this man's eye.

"Young...I bet you're still tight as a virgin." His face split into a salaciously menacing grin. "I'm looking forward to finding out."

She couldn't draw her eyes away from the winking muzzle of the submachine gun. It never wavered from the center of her chest.

"You won't get a chance to find out."

His grin widened. "I have no problem with fucking you dead." Very real fear clenched in her gut. "That pretty body all broken and bruised, ready for the only cock it'll ever get. Yeah, I have no problem with that."

A long finger tapped his shoulder and he spun, his back seeking the wall as the muzzle of his gun swung around to meet the possible threat at his back. The last thing he was aware of was a pale fist impacting with the bridge of his nose.

Relief, sudden and intense, flowed over her as she realized she was no longer in mortal danger. The man who had threatened her, however, was.

"Stop!" She dashed forward, her hand catching a pale wrist stained with speckles of blood. Burningly intense green eyes impacted her stealing the breath from her lungs and leaving her voice a bare whisper. "Stop."

She was pinned by those eyes, emotion roiling in their depths and across the planes of the beautiful face. Inexplicable heat lanced through her and she released the wrist from her grip as though burned.

"We need to find the plans and get out of here." A silent nod was the only answer.

\---

The ride back to headquarters was spent in silence, rage and tension radiating from the woman driving. Quietly, the redhead stared over the edge of the craft, her mind returning her to the lengthy seconds where she'd been in very real fear for her life. Emotion shuddered through her and she clutched at the papers that had been requested.

They had barely landed when an agent had emerged from the dim light of false dawn to receive the package. They were given the signal to take off again as soon as the papers hit the agent's hand.

Another ride in silence saw them back at the house. She stared at her hands, clasped in her lap, as they descended into the garage. Gently touching down, the engine was cut. Automatically, she released herself from the seat belt and alighted from the craft.

She stared at the floor as she walked into the house, watching the change from concrete to bare wood. Behind her, the steady presence of her savior was a warmth that she desperately craved. She stopped just inside the door, staring resolutely at her feet.

A warm hand touched her elbow, bringing her gaze up from her toes, sweeping over knuckles stained brown with dried blood. Her eyes followed up the line of a well defined forearm, over the curve of shoulder, until she was staring at full, moving lips.

"Princess? You ok?"

The words registered in some distant part of her. Their meaning was buried somewhere deep in her mind.

"Princess?"

The door slammed shut as they impacted against the wall, the smaller woman desperately pressing against her savior, her kisses bruising the full lips she'd just been staring at. A startled exclamation was muffled by the press of her lips, and hands that raised, presumably to push her away, were left with no option but to clutch in desperation as her hand snaked between their bodies and cupped her savior's heated sex.

It almost burned her, and she mumbled some incoherent statement to that effect against the lips that pressed against her own. She tore at the fastening of her companion's pants, ripping the cloth in her needy desperation until they were open just enough to allow her hand to slip inside. Fingers curved around until they slipped into heated wetness, making the body she pressed against the wall stiffen as she brushed against an especially sensitive nub.

Then she was enveloped in slick tight heat, and their kiss was broken as the other woman's head fell back against the wall, a deep groan pulled from the depths of her chest. She didn't have enough room to move herself properly, and she growled as she realized this, attacking the exposed length of neck voraciously, her hand shifting and circling over sensitive nerves.

Her lips and teeth were hard against the smooth column bared for her, nipping, sucking, biting, some distant part of her wanting to mark this woman and claim her. She shifted slightly and pushed her fingers deeper into her captive, forcing a strangled cry from her. Her free hand slipped under the thin material of the other woman's shirt, stopping at the feel of the utilitarian bra beneath. Growling angrily, she roughly grasped the soft mound, her teeth digging into the soft skin where neck and shoulder met. Hands clutched at her shoulders desperately as her hand shifted between her captive's thighs, driving home hard and intense.

The sharp scream that sounded from the woman in her arms pierced through her skull, washing away the desperate need that had been her momentum for the last few minutes. Velvet heat clutched at her fingers and the metallic taste of blood trickled over her tongue. She swallowed convulsively as she realized what she'd done.

Oh, _fuck_.

\---

Languid satisfaction from sweet release filled her body with a warmth she hadn't known existed. Leaning heavily against the wall, she was dimly aware when her body was left bereft, cool air drifting across the heated skin exposed in the open vee of her pants.

A deep, shuddering breath returned her to herself, her wits returning in their own time. A chill skittered across her cooling skin. Fixing her clothing, she noted the torn fabric of her pants. Shaking her head, she supposed they'd have to be a loss.

Pity. They had been rather nice pants. Ah, well.

Pushing away from the wall, a shiver danced along her nerves.

Goddamn.

That had been intense.

A languid stretch clued her into the pull of infrequently used muscles. She'd be feeling that for a few hours. Maybe if they had a repeat, she'd be feeling it for days.

Leaving her pants open, she loped to the stairs, reaching for the banister with one hand. Her fingers had just brushed the finished wood when a chilling thought struck her, stilling her movements.

What about monkey boy?

Dashing a hand through her hair in frustration, she turned and stalked into the kitchen.

She needed a drink. Preferably something very, very strong.

\---

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I can't believe I did that!_

She slammed the door shut, leaning her back against it, a vain attempt to keep thoughts - memories - from invading her mind.

A trembling hand raised to her lips, brushing the sensitized surface. The rich musk of spent desire assailed her nostrils, wafting over the delicate membranes of scent from where they'd dried upon her fingers.

Numbly she stared at her fingers, the phantom silken vise of the woman she had forced herself upon still clenching tightly around her digits. A shuddering breath escaped her as her eyes closed, desperate sobs welling in her throat.

That feel...that smell...

What had she done?

She'd gone against everything she stood for - used to stand for. With the events of the past few days, she had no idea of her precise standing any longer. Was she still a hero? Had she been branded a traitor?

By rights, she should be branded a base, vile rapist, a reprehensible reprobate that didn't deserve to breathe the same air as the woman she'd defiled.

Desperate tears tracked over her cheeks, a hot swatch of abject misery.

\---

She sighed deeply and placed her glass in the dishwasher. It had been over an hour and there was neither hide nor hair of her housemate or the boy wonder, thank God for small miracles. Last thing she needed right now was the blonde bombshell fragmenting all over her because she sullied his girlfriend.

What the hell had she been thinking? Never let it be said that the Perfect One didn't do things in style, even her lesbian flings. God...it would be easy to shove all the blame on her, but she couldn't do that...she shared in the fault for the encounter every bit as much as her elusive housemate.

Heh.

Lesbian flings.

Was that her purpose now? Naught more than a weekend dalliance? It wasn't like she really had much to offer, at any rate. A bit of a house, a bit of baggage...it was easy to see how the Princess would be jumping at the bit to get in on that action.

She dashed a hand through her hair in frustration, shoving the mass over her shoulder. Glancing down at herself to check her appearance, she strode to the kitchen door and toward the stairs.

Fuck it.

They needed to talk.

\---

A gentle creak outside the door was the only warning before the knob twisted and the door was pushed inward. Staring blankly at the eastern print on the wall, she didn't pay any heed to the other woman's entrance.

"There you are, Princess."

The quiet tone whipped across her frayed nerves, irritating her already tweaked emotions. If she hadn't been so edgy, she would have heard the gentle caring of the sweet voice she didn't dare admit she'd ached to hear.

"What do you want."

She didn't really see the flinch. Only kind of, out of the corner of her eye.

It annoyed the hell out of her.

This woman was supposed to be a hard assed criminal and she was flinching at a bit of an annoyed tone?

"Just checking up on you."

"Making sure I'm not running away from you?" The dry chuckle was unexpected. She shot a bitter glare at the laughing woman.

"You're about as likely to run away from me as I am to run away from you."

A weary sigh slumped shoulders barely brushed by tumbling red locks. "Fuck off."

"You've already taken care of that nicely, thanks."

A strangled scream filled the brittle air of the bedroom as the formerly still, brooding woman suddenly flew through the air, her hands in claws aimed at her tormentor's pale face.

"Don't say that!"

Startled, pale hands scissored through the air rapidly, blocking and deflecting the myriad blows aimed at her head. "Goddamn, Princess! What's your damage!" She managed to still one arm long enough to bring them face to face.

Beautiful features twisted in a vicious snarl, her green eyes snapping in raised ire. "You!"

Her unwelcome visitor was shoved away roughly, impacting hard against the door jamb, her breath coming in short pants as she exploded. "What the hell did I do?! I already said I'm sorry, what the fuck do you want from me!" She punctuated her stated questions with forceful shoves against the slim shoulder of her opponent.

"I don't want _anything_  from you!" The desperate cry bordered on a keening wail as the redhead launched herself once more at the woman that occupied her thoughts. A fist was raised, ready to impact against the dark, flowing locks at the side of her opponent's head.

"FINE!" The force of the barely aimed punch was redirected and enhanced, forcing the former hero to trip and collapse in a heap on the floor. " _FUCK_  you and _fuck_  this! I have enough problems with GJ breathing down my neck, I don't need you!"

"Too _fucking_  bad, I'm part of your goddamned contract!"

" _FUCK THE CONTRACT!_ " The words hung heavy in the air between them. Stormy green eyes met confused anger and turned away. "Fuck this. Go home."

With those quietly tumultuous words, she fled rapidly, her feet taking her to the only place she would be able to find solace at this late date.

\---

It was beyond dark when the hovercraft returned to the modified garage. She knew because she hadn't been able to do much beyond explore. There was not much for her to glean from the lean furnishings and detritus, but what little she'd seen had given her a bit of a rounded image. After she'd explored as much as she could, she had resorted to sitting in the dark and brooding.

It probably wasn't healthy. The brooding, that was. The sitting in the dark, for all intents and purposes, wouldn't really have any effect other than to make every sound seem like some deranged serial killer out to get her.

She'd been sitting on the couch, rehashing the days events in her mind for a few hours when she heard the garage roof opening. The muffled clunk of landing, and then-

"Why are you here? Was I not clear when I said to go home?"

She shrugged, her eyes tracing over the svelte figure before her. A heavy looking paper bag was cradled against one curved hip. She idly wondered what lurked in those depths.

"No, seriously, did I stutter? Was I vague? Why are you still _here_?"

She shrugged again and continued watching, content to not speak after the excess she'd spewed verbally earlier in the day.

A heavy sigh erupted from the irritated woman in the doorway.

"Fine. Whatever."

She strode to the kitchen, a glaring light coming to life at the flick of her finger. The bag was placed on the table, glassware within clunking against the solid surface.

Silently, she rose from the couch and padded to the kitchen, watching from behind as item after item was carefully drawn from within the depths of the bag. A full course meal seemed to appear from the depths of the simple paper, steam clouded plasticware obscuring the details of what could be spaghetti with meatballs.

Some of the containers seemed to sparkle in the garish flourescent light. She hadn't realized that they were putting sparkles in knockoff tupperware now.

A pale hand gently laid a large sheet of heavy grade construction paper on the containers. The fibrous paper was puckered with glue, weighted by an abundance of glitter, explaining where the sparkles on the containers came from. Boldly colored crayon markings on the paper weren't at the right angle for her to read, so she drew up behind the working woman.

A pale hand shot out, retrieving the paper and returning it to the bag.

Not, however, before she'd seen part of the message.

Scribbled in childish crayon, with glitter adorning the lines, was scrawled "- miss you, Mommy, Love -"

She stared blankly at the sparkling containers as her abruptly secretive companion calmly strode from the room, bag in hand.

\---

These last few days had definitely been an exercise in how many ways she could fuck up and not kill herself with the stupidity.

What the hell had she been thinking, asking for someone's life like that? Shortsighted and joking as it had been, it had very real consequences and as such, had to be dealt with as any other bad decision she'd made.

The level of shit that was surrounding her grew with each passing day. Goddammit, how could she be so _stupid_?

Now that woman was going to ask _questions_. She hated that.

Not because of the questions themselves. Those didn't bother her. She'd heard them before, far too many times.

What was creating the pain in her stomach was the the answers.

Before, she'd _always_  gotten by with half-truths or outright lies. Misdirection had also served her well.

This time, with this woman...the words could be nothing short of the truth.

Of course, it would all be moot if she went back downstairs and she was alone.

God, that would be a dream come true.

"I put the food in the fridge."

She closed her eyes. Of course.

Her dreams didn't come true.

Life didn't work that way.

Turning around, she met the shuttered gaze of her unintended roommate directly. "What do you want, Princess?" Defeat lined her shoulders, the heavy burden negating the spiritual recharge she'd achieved on her side trip.

"I don't need anything."

She almost laughed. "You're in my doorway. What do you want."

The redhead stared at a spot on the carpet for a long moment. Drawing a deep breath, she steeled herself and raised her cautiously guarded gaze. "Where'd you go?"

"Out. Can I go to bed now?"

"...Fine."

The younger woman turned on her heel, slamming the door behind her.

Tipping her head back to stare at the ceiling, she released her breath in a long-suffering sigh. The more time passed, the more she was really beginning to regret asking for that damned teenager.

She should have asked for a pony like a sane person.

\---

  
"Goddamned frustrating pain in the-"

She slammed the door in her frustration, the echo of the wood crashing into the jamb soothing her ire slightly. Irritation edged at her mind, demanding an outlet. A primal growl erupted from her throat, reverberating against the walls.

Damn her!

Who did she think she was, daring to be so...so...so _her_! It was like she had no idea what she...

What she...

Why _was_  she so upset? It wasn't like she really had a claim on the other woman. The woman she'd callously raped. The woman who had cruelly beaten her. The woman who, for some reason, was protecting her and her family.

She stalked over to the room that she'd been using, each step a jarring reminder of every ache and bruise she'd acquired in the last twenty four hours. The soft bed called to her, reminding her that she had not slept since she'd been abruptly awoken to go and, once again, save the world. Had that really been just this morning?

Had it really just been a few short days ago that she'd been at home, with her family bustling around with their own projects?

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she moved around the broad expanse of the room that had been alloted to her, removing the jacket that hugged her torso. Stretching languidly, she stared blankly at the ceiling, absently noting the rawness of the exposed wooden beams.

The last few days had been a strange concentration of activity, even for her normally hectic life. Usually, though, her activity didn't carry with it quite the emotional repercussions as she had been forced to deal with here...with her. Normally she was able to shrug off the events of the day to go see a movie with her best friend.

Here, though, such a thing was not possible. She had to remain here, _had_  to find out what was going on with the other woman. There was a mystery there, one that troubled her on levels she did not dare examine. Why would there be a child's picture addressed to 'Mommy'? Was there any reason for her, a rapist, to be protected so vehemently? For that matter, why had her vile actions taken in the kitchen hallway gone unchallenged?

She needed answers.

In the morning, she would wait. She would lay in hiding until her roommate emerged, then she would pounce and determine the truth. Nothing but truth could be spoken between them now, too much had passed for them to present falsehood. No more would she allow the other woman to escape, answers unspoken.

The truth would out.

\---

The first indication she had that the day would not go as she wished, i.e., without mention of where she'd disappeared to the night before, was when she woke up alone in her bed. At no time during the night had her slumber been interrupted by a svelte redhead asking uncomfortable questions. Instead, she had been allowed to sleep through the night undisturbed.

That unsettled her.

"Goddammit." She glared at the ceiling as though it would tell her what she wished to know. It remained stubbornly silent.

With a sigh, she rose and prepared for her day. Dressing with deliberate care, she mentally prepared for the coming conflagration. She had been able to avoid The Question the night before.

It would not happen again today.

She had not taken three steps out of her room before she was stopped by a calm voice calling out to her from shadow. Half hidden in darkness, her interrogator was blunt and precise with her preliminary inquiry.

"Where did you go last night."

She stopped. Her moment of truth had arrived. The secret that she had carried for years would now be spoken to someone outside the family.

"A little suburb of Go City, Waiteville."

"Who gave you the food?"

She could feel it coming closer. The Question, the one she dreaded with every fibre of her being. "My aunt and her husband." A pregnant pause stretched between them. She could feel The Question hanging in the air between them, demanding to be spoken.

"Who drew that picture?"

She closed her eyes. Memories of their times together, fighting, battling, arguing - they all flowed through her mind in a rapid slideshow. She would miss her Princess, but after this revelation, there was no way on Earth she'd ever be able to face her again. Too much would be known about one another, and she would never be able to trust the woman she'd called Princess. She opened her eyes and returned her gaze to the woman who hid in shadow, the barest glint of her steady green eyes shining out from the darkness.

Taking a deep, bracing breath, she released it in a steady flow before speaking. "My son." The shock on her interrogator's face was a tableau of dumbfounded muteness, her normal vivacity rendered still by the enormity of those two small words. She had to take advantage of this silence before the questions about the father came up. "You can keep the house. I won't be back."

One final glance at the woman she'd so foolishly wished for, the one whom had shown her pleasure from the simplest touch, the one whom she was fixated upon...that was all she allowed herself. Pain blossomed in her chest as she strode rapidly by the still woman, tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

She had to get out.

Blindly, she dashed for the hovercraft, the keys hanging on a hook near the garage door. She leapt into the device and started it with a flick of her wrist, barely able to wait for the roof hatch to open.

As she rose above the house, she could see the redhead emerge through the kitchen door, her face upturned to stare at the steadily rising hovercraft. Through her tears, the standing woman's figure below was a blur of red amidst the dark colors of the garage, an impressionist display of shocked misery. Her hands gripped the steering column with a deadly ferocity, the steel hard against her palms. She spoke softly, not daring to have the woman she had left behind hear her words.

"Good bye...my Princess."


	2. She Who Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We shall meet again - perhaps in the shining mists of Orion's Sword, perhaps on a bleak plateau in prehistoric Asia, perhaps in unremembered dreams tonight, perhaps in some other form an eon hence, when the solar system shall have been swept away."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some things are explained. Other questions are raised. This chapter also explores some of the inspiration for this story, though that is to be fully explored in the third chapter - and despite what it may seem, the inspiration isn't quite what you might expect.
> 
> Trigger warning: there is discussion of a past rape in this chapter.

She left.

Just like that, she left. I'm alone, in her house that we're supposed to be _sharing_...and she **left**!

I might very well just have to kill her. It was bad enough that I never got a chance to...a chance to...

I never got to tell her that I'm sorry I raped her. I never had a chance to apologize for everything I'd done to her in the past.  I'd hurt her, willfully, so many times during the course of my duties. I shamed her, humiliated her, _hurt_ her...all after she'd stuck her neck out for me.

I had to find her.

"Kim? What's up?" Wade sounded shocked to hear from me. I guess he didn't realize- "And where's Shego going?"

A grin started as his words sunk in. He was already tracking her. He could find out where she went. "Wade, I need to get wherever she's going. Options?"

His fingers tapped rapid fire over his incredibly loud keyboard. "Motorcycle?"

"No big. Just so long as I get there."

"Not a problem. Contact'll be in...five minutes."

"Thanks."

I stood, waiting, until a figure decked out in black leather on a sleek bike to match pulled to a stop. One black gloved hand flipped up the visor of the full face helmet to let me see shadowed eyes, then the rider jerked a thumb to the passenger seat.

Great.

Hopped up on hormones and emotion, I had to ride a mobile vibrator and hug a leather clad mystery. If I wasn't so hung up on everything going on with Shego, I might have cared more about who my ride was. As it was, all that mattered was finding her and finding out why the hell she ran from me like a scared child. Did she think I was the type make fun of her? Ridicule her? _Mock_ her? 

Didn't she know me better than that? We'd done so much over...three days.

Goddamn, had it really only been that long?

I needed my head checked.

There I was, clinging to the back of a motorcycle rider who drove so quickly around the hairpin turns of the mountains that my knee was within a hair's breadth of scraping the asphalt...and the only thing on my mind was Shego. The hard chrome and steel bit sharply into my legs as I squeezed against the bike's frame, shifting with my driver as we tore down the curvy road, the motion automatic. What in the world was I thinking?

I could only hope that I would know what the hell I was doing when I found her.

\---

Blast it all to fucking hell.

I should have known better.

Kim will never give up. She'll always track me down to the ends of the Earth with the help of her little lackeys. Nerd boy probably already has a permanent lock on my location. It's not like I'm exactly hard to track with this goddamn mutation. There are only five of us who give off those inverted photons or queer quarks or whatever the hell Mego blathered on about.

Damn geek.

That boy always got into more trouble than Dr. D in an unlocked lab. There was this one time he ended up bright orange for a week. I wish I had gotten a picture. He looked like a hardcore Broncos fan, it was _priceless_.

Especially when he accidentally walked into a Raiders bar during the wild card playoffs.

I thought I'd never stop laughing.

I sure as hell didn't feel like laughing as the outer limits of the suburbs that Aunt Jodie and Uncle Rob lived in came into view below me. I could almost feel her breath, hot on the back of my neck as I guided the hovercraft over strip malls and elementary schools. Hopefully Rob had gotten my call to clear the picnic table from the backyard. Whenever the picnic table was out, I had to park the damn hovercraft in the front yard and his neighbors always _hated_ that. Sure, he laughed it off every time, but they already did so much for me that I couldn't justify putting them through more.

Now that I'd run, Kim was going to follow. I could always expect her to show up within a half hour after I got where I was going, on the outside. That was assuming she went retarded and didn't immediately call on her personal IT department. If she did, then she should show up within fifteen minutes of my own arrival.

Either way, I'd have just enough time to fill Rob and my short man in on what was going on. Jodie should still be on her Caribbean tour.

I lowered the hovercraft into the empty backyard, the long blades of Rob's grass shifting wildly beneath my transport. Behind the sliding glass door, my boy grinned widely at me, Rob hovering behind him, frowning at me.

God...this would definitely be classified under 'not fun'.

As soon as I flipped the engine off, Rob released Caden from the house. My arms were suddenly filled with my rambunctious scout and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

"Mommy! Unca Rob said you'd be coming!" He pulled his head back and grinned at me. "Can we play knights?"

Laughing, I tickled his unprotected sides, making him squeal like a stuck pig. "Later, buddy. Someone special's coming over so you have to behave."

"I always behave!" Caden pushed at my tickling hands, and I stopped, taking the moment to hold my precious son.

"I meant behave well, short man."

Caden pouted almost as prettily as Kim did. It was kind of disturbing to realize that while I held him in my lap.

"Someone special?" I could _hear_ the smirk in Rob's voice and I had to resist the urge to smack the fucker upside the head. He was lucky I was holding Caden.

"Yeah. It's complicated.  She doesn't know about...anything. I know her from my work."

Rob's eyebrow arched. I'd filled in Jodie and Rob about what I did for a living when everything had happened with Caden. It wasn't until the evil grin started that I realized he knew enough to know who it was and _why_ she'd be coming over.

"Redhead? Young? Lives in Middleton?"

Fucker.

One of these days, I'd kill him, a long, slow, _painful_ death.

"It's complicated."

Rob laughed and lifted Caden from me, setting my boy down on the lawn to let me climb out of my transport. "Women always are, or had you forgotten that part of sex ed?"

Standing next to my short man, I ruffled his hair affectionately. "I haven't forgotten. It's pretty bad."

"What's bad?" Caden's innocent question probably would have had me sweating if I hadn't been long since used to them.

I smirked at him and poked his stomach. "The smell of your farts!"

"Mom!" His ears flushed red, his light complexion making the blush stand out.

"Oh, come on, you fart enough to make your own bubble bath."

He glanced from side to side furtively, muttering. "I do not!"

In another second, a hideous smell wafted up to my nose and I leaned back, waving my hand in front of my face. "Holy crap, Rob, what have you been feeding him!"

Rob couldn't answer. He was laughing too hard. Caden was grinning unabashedly, proud of his rectal emission.

Then the knock sounded.

I closed my eyes. She was a bit ahead of schedule.

I guess I'd underestimated her frantic rush.

"I'll get it..." Rob's voice trailed off as he disappeared into the house.

Looking down at my son, I levelled a stern look on him. "Remember, buddy. Best behavior."

"Yes, Mom." His head was tilted back slightly to let him meet my gaze, his small face deadly earnest.

I couldn't help but to smile. "What did you learn in school today?"

"Oh my god! We totally did this thing on Egypt and there were mummies! Did you know they pulled their brains out through their _nose_? It was so disgusting, it was _awesome_!" He gestured for me to lean in, and I did, bending my ear to his loud whisper. "Mandy almost puked!"

"No way!"

His nod was vigorous, shaking his long hair over his face. It was almost time to take him in for a trim again. "Total way! She had to run to the bathroom and she couldn't watch the rest, but the movie wasn't bad at all, they didn't even _show_ anything, not like that thing we saw last week where there was that guy who had the bite mark."

"Right. So you liked it?"

"Yeah! Can we go to Egypt?"

Laughing, I ruffled his hair again. "Maybe if you're good, buddy."

Rob's mild tenor sounded softly from the kitchen, steadily coming closer. "She's right back here."

My hand resting on my son's shoulder, I raised my gaze and met that of the woman who didn't seem to understand what 'leave me the fuck alone' meant.

\---

I'm not sure what I thought I'd see written on her face when I stepped around the corner into the backyard.

Passive indifference was just about the best I could have hoped for. Her son was standing next to her, his bearing as proud as his mother's.

God...she's somebody's _mother_. How in the hell did _that_ happen? I mean, I know _how_ it happens, but her...she...I don't know what I'm saying anymore.

My mind swirled with confusion, anger and hurt. She'd made her grand announcement, then fled. Where did she get off, doing something like that?

Faced with the four foot tall evidence, what little denial I clung to crumbled. The woman I'd fought against, my captor, my fascination, the woman I'd callously raped...

She's a mother.

A freaking mother!

How did I miss that? How did Wade? Did Global Justice know, was that why they negotiated with her?

Insane.

I still wanted her.

"Hello, Kim." Her calm, measured voice slapped across my jangled nerves, making me flinch.

"Uh, hi."

"This is my son, Caden. Say hello, short man."

The wide smile he turned on me made my heart hurt. "Hi! You're Kim, right?" I nodded dumbly, unwilling to trust my voice just yet. "Mom has a great picture of you in the TV room, that's how I know who you are. Do you like ninjas?"

"Um, I guess so." I glanced at her and my heart clenched. She was smiling at him, a gentle smile filled with love. God, I wished I could see it turned on me. Didn't I?

"I do too. My favorites are the lesbian vampire ninja pirates 'cause they go all hwaaaaah and kiyah! And then they hide their treasure and go to sleep in their coffins. It's awesome."

Oh my God. He'd done little karate moves, just like the ones Shego had used against me in past fights, but with less finesse. He really was her son, and he liked lesbian vampire ninja pirates.

Wait, had he just said - "Lesbian?"

Caden nodded vigorously, his hair flinging out around his head. "Yeah! Girls that like other girls! Don't you know about them?"

I couldn't help but to look over at her as the phantom of her touch danced across my skin, heating my blood with the mere memory of how her strong fingers had dug into my arms. I could feel the vise of her desire clamped tightly around me, but I'd fucked that up, and now I'd never again know the sweet scent of her arousal clinging to my fingers, and I'd never know what it would be to have her touch me in tenderness - or at least in lust.

"Yes, I know about lesbians."

"Are you a lesbian, Kim?"

"Caden!" That timing couldn't have been more perfect if I'd planned it.

Not that I minded the question. "No...no, it's ok." She looked at me, her impassive mask cracking slightly to let me see a hint of tense apprehension and heated, unspoken desire. Well, shit. It could have been desire, anyway. It might have been indigestion for all I know. The kid deserved an answer, not me staring at his mom all day. "Caden, I didn't used to think so, but after what happened yesterday, I think I am."

Oho...that caught her attention. She glared _daggers_ at me after I said that, and I'm damn sure wishes of a large hole opening beneath my feet were made.

"What happened?"

The smile I turned on him was soft and genuine, something I'd hadn't been sure still remained within me. "Your mom asked me on a date."

His face lit up so much, I swear he must have been visible from space. "Wow! So you're gonna be her girlfriend?"

"Caden, that's enough." Aw, but I wanted to answer...I think I did, anyway. It was always hard to tell when I got as discombobulated as I was. "Go see Uncle Rob."

"But-"

"Now." Wow. That was one helluva sexy growl. Kinda made my knees go weak.

"Yes ma'am." He trotted off like a good boy, leaving me alone with his mama.

Well, shit. God, I hoped she didn't send him away to rip me a new one, but I couldn't make myself really believe the vague dream.

"What the hell, Kim." Low, controlled and pissed beyond belief, her quiet stated question lashed across me viciously. There went that vague hope...

"Would you rather I'd have told him the truth?"

"I'd rather you hadn't said anything!"

I suddenly randomly smelled French toast. Weird. "I've done that enough. We need to talk." Maybe over breakfast. That French toast smelled GOOD.

"So talk." She glared at me, outrageous levels of seething anger flowing off of her.

It was a good thing I was already incensed, otherwise I would have been intimidated. "Why'd you leave?"

She stared at me silently for so long, I thought she hadn't heard my question. I shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

Why was she able to make me feel ashamed for wanting answers? Why was I letting her have this control over me?

"I'm sorry. I just...I have to know."

"I know." She was subdued, quiet. Dark eyes turned to me, capturing me in an inscrutably dark contemplation. "I knew you would never be able to let it go."

Shame.

That's what flooded my cheeks then. I had forced this woman into...so many things. And now, I was standing there, _demanding_ that she explain herself! Was I insane?

"I'm sorry." I meant it. Pain arched through me as I realized how she must be feeling, standing here with her rapist. Would she hate me forever? Did she want to get revenge on me? Was I already damned? "I have to know."

I needed to know. I can deal with anything, just so long as I know what it is. I have to know.

The grimace twisted her face so painfully that at first, I thought she'd hurt herself. Then she turned from me, her voice as filled with pain as her voice. "I know." God, those two little words tore at me. Left my soul in damned tatters, fluttering the breeze. It shocked the hell out of me when she sighed and continued. "We might as well be comfortable for this interrogation. C'mon, we're commandeering the guest room."

Quiet as church mice, we make our way up the stairs, the daylight sounds of suburbia wafting through the still air of the house. I think I hear a raucous game of tag from down the street as we reach the top of the stairs, but I don't care enough to really listen. How can I care when one of the world's most perfect butts is directly in front of me? Sure, I try not to stare, but there's really no point, I stare anyway.

Rounded, firm to the touch and...turning so abruptly I almost trip over my own feet. Might want to watch out more carefully in the future. That delectable posterior shifts out of my line of sight and I'm half pulled, half pushed into the room. Glancing around as I stumble in, I almost laugh at the familiar layout and decor.

I guess aesthetic sense runs in the family.

By the time I've regained my balance, she's across the room, frowning at the sheer curtains of the lone window. The afternoon light bathes her hair in a rich wash, lending her a healthy glow unconnected to her powers. It's strange...in this light, I can see how she would have looked if that accident had never happened. It looks...wrong.

I like her with her pale skin. Maybe that makes me weird. I don't care. It's a part of her and I love her. I think I do. It's hard to tell with this emotional tidal wave tying me in knots.

Gentle light touches her face, smoothing the wrinkles caused by her frown. I want to feel them beneath my fingertips, the soft curve of her lips, the elegant lines of her cheeks, the aquiline nobility of her nose... A sudden ache to know what her forehead feels like beneath my lips erupts within me. My teeth dig into my lip to prevent me from acting on that insane urge.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're exhausting?" The subdued words lash over me with an almost physical intensity. I exhaust her?

"Uh, no."

"You're beyond exhausting." Oh, God, no... "Just the thought of this conversation is already making me sleepy." Pausing, she rubs her eyes, weariness slumping her shoulders with its weight. "And you're distracting." Is that good or bad? "I can't think clearly when I'm around you." Possibly good. Confusion is always a good sign when it comes to the heart. Isn't it? "Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?"

Most definitely possibly good.

Not that the thin hope changed anything.

"Yes." My voice is weak, reed thin in the face of her accusation. I sound like a freaking pansy assed weakling. It's not like I've really done anything heroic recently, so maybe that's appropriate. "I've done things to you that under normal circumstances, I'd arrest myself for. I don't know what you're doing to me, but I want to find out."

She didn't turn to look at me with those gorgeous green eyes then.

Goddammit.

"I'm not doing anything to you. I told you, the contract's over. Just go on back to your boy wonder and have a laugh so I can get back to my life."

What the hell? "I'm not going to Ron, that'd be stupid. I could never talk to him about this." There is only so much the best friend is capable of, and making me scream with pleasure sure as hell ain't one of them.

"What the hell?" Well. At least she's looking at me now. Too bad it's in angry disbelief.

"It's too...personal."

"How can it be too personal!" If she can shout that loud, what kind of screams is she capable of? Gah. _Focus!_  


"Because it's sex!"

"You're having it with him, how much closer do you need to be before you'll talk about it?!"

"Having it with-" What. The. HELL. "Shego, that is disgusting. He's like my _brother_. I don't know about you, but I'm totally not into faux-cest."

"Not...him...you...no?"

"One word, Shego: Ew." The shudder that ran over my body was not faked. That was one of the sickest thoughts I'd ever heard. Gah. Like the Tweebs. EW! "Is that what you've been thinking?"

Eyes closed, she turned her head away and nodded once.

Well, no _wonder_ she'd been giving off such a pissed vibe. I guess she'd thought I'd done him on her couch.

Ugh. That thought alone made me kinda sick to my stomach.

"I cannot believe you thought I was dating Ron. That's just wrong on so many levels." Shaking my head I crossed my arms over my chest. "In case you missed it?" I waited for her to turn her head, then pointed my finger at her in emphasis. "SO. WRONG."

"Fine, I was wrong. Can we drop it now? Sheesh. It's not like he's that bad."

"He's my brother from another mother!"

"Ok, fine! Shit." She turned away from me again, her chin dropping and making her hair fall over her face, obscuring the features I ached to see.

Then her words registered. "Wait, _you_ like Ron?"

"What?" A bare glance was all she spared me.

"You like Ron. This is all a big plot to get him, isn't it." My statements brought her gaze back to bear on me, her mouth hanging open slightly. Probably because I'd figured her out. "That means you never really wanted me, you were just using me to get to him. That is so _mean_!"

"You think I was joking when I said I'd do you all night long? Are you fucking retarded? I'm gonna-" She stopped abruptly, one finger jabbing at me briefly before she continued in stops and starts. "Of all the - were you dropped on your head as a kid? Why the fuck would I want anything to do with him when I've got you right in front of me! Not that you're any fucking _good_ for me, but it's not like the first time _that's_ happened to me!"

Tears welled in my eyes, making my voice thick. "You bastard."

Snarling, she snapped at me, her words biting and harsh. "I'm not, but my son is and with any luck, he'll never meet his father."

The hot saline of my tears hovered at the edges of my eyes, threatening to fall over my cheeks. "Why, are you ashamed of _him_ too?"

Stepping forward, she invaded my space until I could feel the heated anger rolling from her. "No, because his father is a sick fuck who gets his jollies off raping his friend's kid sisters!"

Maybe if she'd reached in and pulled my intestines from my body and strangled me with them, it might have hurt more than her words.

I doubt it.

  
_I'd_ raped her.

Oh, God...

\---

The horror on her face was exactly why I'd so desperately avoided telling her. She stared at me like I was some kind of _freak_. I'd spent a long while getting over it, only to have her reject me for being a stronger person? Oh, _hell_ no!

"That's right, Princess. I was raped." Maybe I hadn't meant to snarl at her. Maybe I had. It felt good, even as the bitter sting of regret flashed over me and words vomited out of my mouth. "I was asleep in my fucking bed and he stumbled in on his way to the bathroom." I've managed to shock her. I don't really care all that much right now, not with as pissed as I am. I just want to stop her from...from...I don't know. But I can't let it happen. "He pissed on my laundry, then he came over and started in on me. He was almost done before I woke up and when I went to fight back, he knocked me out." Oh, god, the words just won't stop. Someone make me shut up before I tell her everything, even the things I haven't thought of yet. I have to stop this verbal spew! "I hated it. I hated him, mostly because he made me hate my brothers because they..." I bit off my words. No, can't admit that. Gotta steer the words another way. "See, Princess, I know who he is." The tears were edging at the back of my eyes now. Was it because of what I was saying? Or was it because of the horrified shame burning on her cheeks? The aching terror that lurked in her teary eyes? "He's in prison now for doing the same thing when he went off to college. Only thing is, that time he tried to do it to a girl that had a bodyguard. I could never make people believe my story on my own. Why should they believe me when my own damn brothers -"

I was finally able to shut my goddamned mouth and stop the words. Fuck, I'd said too much, she'd know that they never believed what I told them, they'd believed the sick fuck Hego had called friend. From the petrified shock on her face, her hands curled in disgust, pulled away from me...I knew what she thought of me. Damn narrow minded teenager.

"I didn't do shit to deserve it. _No one_ ever does shit to deserve it, no matter what those fuckers say. He's just a sick fucking bastard who happened to donate the sperm to let me have my son. He's worthless scum, but without him, I would have never had the chance to have my boy, and _that_ was his purpose in life. Nothing more. I would go through it again, all of it, if it meant I would have Caden. He's the reason, now, why I'm here, why _you're_ here, but this time with us...I'd do it different. I never wanted to have this kind of shit between us. I never wanted us to have _any_ shit between us, I just wanted to be able to go home at the end of the day and be with my son." I pinched the bridge of my nose, near my eyes, my finger and thumb digging brutally into the sockets. The pressure helped to clear my head slightly. "I don't know what I feel about _him_ , exactly. I love my son. What I went through to get him...was worth it."

My fury's gone. I stare at the floor, blankness filling my mind. Vast emptiness is all there is, the soft carpet beneath my feet disappearing to my unseeing eyes.

"Do...do you hate me?" She's so fragile, so small, as she asks. I can't help the snort of laughter at the ludicrous question. God, hate her? I'd sooner hate myself.

"What? You've never done anything to make me hate you." God willing, she'd leave after this discussion and I'd never have cause to hate her. Her reaction right now was kind of making me edge on pissed. If she kept it up, I'd go beyond pissed into 'tear her damn head off'.

Or 'fuck her til she can't see straight'. It's kind of a toss up.

Tears burst from her in a wickedly intense display, her hands coming up to cover her suddenly streaming face and completely switching my anger from 'Oh, it's on!' to 'All circuits are currently engaged. Please wait.'. Great wracking sobs tore through her huddled frame, and I stepped toward her, taking her into my awkward embrace. She probably hated it, but I had to do _something_. Fighting to speak around the tears, her hands fisted on my shoulder as she trembled in the circle of my arms. "God, you must hate me!"

"Princess, I don't know why you finding about Caden's sperm donor would make you turn Niagara on me, but it would be great if you stopped." She nodded against my shirt, pulling away and wrestling her tears under control. Swallowing, she refused to look at me as I questioned her. "Why do you think I'd hate you?"

"I raped you." Her words are soft, quietly spoken to my right breast.

Strange how much it can hurt to whip your head around even when you're already looking at the thing you're moving to look at, so your head doesn't really move all that much. Could that really be considered whiplash? She refuses to meet my gaze, her eyes skittering around the room in an insane dance of nervousness. Her hands are clenched so tightly together that the knuckles are turning all white and making my brain immediately jump to fisting. Whoa. Bad. Back to the subject at hand.

The words have sunk into my brain, but I'm unable to make sense of them. _She_ raped _me_? Was that even _possible_? Wait, she thinks she raped me?

Raucous, wild laughter burst from me as the words arranged themselves in my consciousness. I couldn't help it. The very _idea_... "You never raped me."

She sputters, her words haltingly forced. "But I forced you, after the thing, in the kitchen!" Her martyrdom is almost cute. Misplaced, but cute.

Grinning, I shook my head in a simple refusal of her claim. "Darlin', you need a serious lesson in what consent is. After everything we've been through, you think that I can't stop you if I want to?"

She blinked at me, confusion furrowing her brow. "But...I didn't ask you."

"Oh, Kimmie..." I stepped back in, close to her, a bare inch separating our bodies. Startled by my proximity, she didn't move. I'd like to think she couldn't, not with as closely she could feel the heat of my body. Hell, feeling the nervous horniness that was flowing off of her made my senses sit up and howl, demanding that I claim the damned woman already. "After all this time..." My hand ran lightly up the length of her arm, then left it to cup her cheek. The light dusting of soft hair on her pristine skin tickled my palm and fingers. I wondered if I'd find a similar sprinkling of fine hair at the base of her spine, just above where her butt began to curve outwards. The tender ache within me screamed to taste that unmarred skin.  "I should hope that you would have recognized..." I closed the distance between us, the soft crush of her breasts against me sending a thrill through my system. I ached desperately for her, a thrumming of languid need that made my head spin. My head angled as a smile danced around my lips, one that she could not tear her gaze from. Slowly, I leaned in to meet her lips as I spoke the final words of my argument. "Consent doesn't have to be spoken for it to be given."

A warm hand pressed against the back of my neck, pulling me the final bit of distance toward the lips that had haunted me incessantly.

I allowed myself to sink into her kiss, the curve of her fingers around my waist sending a thrill through my hypersensitised nerves. Her breasts pressed against me deliciously, soft enticement of hidden swells that I ached to touch, her thigh rising to nudge against my knees. There was so much I ached for from this woman, and I would definitely see my way to doing more than a few of them tonight. Last time, she had leapt on me, claiming me before I could think to react.

This time, I would know her pleasure.

Softening the press of my mouth against hers, my questing hands drift over her body, her clothes disappearing beneath my soft touch. My fingertips map over her bared skin, committing every texture, every curve and swell of her body to memory. If I'm going to be locked up or whatever tomorrow, I sure as hell am having a night to remember first. Kissing her gently, I guide her onto the bed, almost moaning at the feel of her body pressing against my own. Every shift of muscle in the toned body I hold, I can feel. I can feel each intake of breath that gasps into her lungs, every shudder of emotion that drifts along her nerves, every last brush of her fingertips against me.

Fuck, it feels goddamned _glorious_.

Time, existence, space, humanity, fighting...everything. It fades to nothing in the brush of her kiss against my bare shoulder, in the way her fingers dig into my back and pull me impossibly closer. Our hips are sliding, pounding, arching together, both of us seeking the same thing, to be _closer_. I have to be closer. I have to feel her, tight and hot and wet around me, I have to know what it is to feel her entire being wracked with the pleasure that I bring, I have to see it, in her face, in her intense eyes as she goes wild beneath me.

There's nothing else for it. I have to fuck her.

In a breath, my hand is there and I can feel her and its more than I ever could have dreamed, more than I could have ever dared imagine. She is intensity and glory, reception and welcome, my every idle dream made real. I can't hold back, and her body begs me to continue, her wetness coating my exploring fingers and making me ache to drive into her. She's lifting against me, her hand holding my wrist in her strong grip, and before I can steady myself, I'm inside her. Fully. Completely.

Oh, God, she feels good.

I have to kiss her. My mouth is on hers, ravening, plundering, insistent, demanding that she yield and meet me all in the same touch. A low sound from her throat is my only warning before her strongly muscled thigh slides against me, forcing me to realize just how intensely she's drawn my hunger out. The barest breath reminds me how wet I am - how wet _she_ has made me. Just as desperately as I sought her mouth, I seek her eyes, I have to see her soul looking into my own.

Our darkly pleasured gazes connect and I'm falling, I'm caught, I'm everything and nothing, reborn, refreshed, in her. It's all in her, in us, and this has to continue forever. The longest time in my life - my entire existence - is that moment, feeling her, knowing she's feeling me, feeling us...it's more than I ever conceived of, and yet it's still not enough. The hunger that burns within me, raw and unrelenting, flares anew with her fingertips brushing against my side.

Everything is lost in the tangle of mouths and limbs, kisses and caresses, love and desire distilled. Every movement is as a new world opening, with her. I can't stop. I don't want to stop.

Each brush of fingers brings me closer, every flex of her thigh against me drives me madder, each tightening of her around me as I'm buried so fully within her incites me higher - until I must surely contain the universe within me, straining to break free and leave me shattered in her embrace. Yet still, her touch, her kisses, push me further, beyond anything I'd ever known. Something has to give and I know it will be me...but in this sweet eternity of our mingled pleasure, I could live forever.

It can't last, and I know it can't last, no matter how I wish it were different. This glorious moment with her is one we can relive over and over again, in years to come, and I know we will. There's not even a bare semblance of control left in me as the last rush of intense, all consuming passionate joy engulfs us. It scorches through me, branding my very soul as hers past all eternity. As the pleasure rushes through me, heightened yet further by the knowledge that she is feeling it even as I do, I know my truth. She is mine, and I am whole. Here, with her, is home.

\---

The bed was wide, and decadently comfortable, but the sweating, heavily panting woman in the center of it paid the comfort little mind as she arched off the softness. Suspended for a long breath above the pillowtop mattress, a pleasure, so intense it brought a soft cry from the woman's lips, tore through the fit form. The shudders of joyous feeling lingered long after the trembling body collapsed into the decadent softness. All to be heard was the soft cadence of deeply panted breaths.

Slowly, blearily, confused green eyes opened, staring at the blank white ceiling. Memories washed over her, causing her freshly opened eyes to close once more before the wave of emotion. Rolling onto her side quickly, she scrambled for the edge of the bed and grasped a nearby wastebasket just in time to lose what little remained of her half-eaten dinner.

Just as intense as the pleasure that had wracked her mere moments before, agony tore through, leaving sorrow and a bitter regret. Her mouth tasted bilious as she spat into the wastepaper basket, but she didn't care to try to stand just yet. Her chin rested on the edge of the bed as she stared, unseeing, at her bedroom as her mind whirled in riotous uproar.

She could have sworn it had all actually happened. Caden...Rob...all of it.

Damn her mind for pulling them into that...that...that twisted fantasy!

She wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to them. They were her family - she had to do anything she could to protect them.

Even if it was reprehensible.

The stakes were too high to risk. She had an out. Playing would mean her life - but it was also the best way to make sure the others were untouched. _All_ of the others.

Her eyes closed as she forced her mind away from the actions she had taken in that fantastic flight of possibility, trying to think of anything else. Within a few breaths, the encroaching press of the darkness that surrounded her was shattered by the jarring ring of the of the old fashioned rotary telephone on her nightstand.

"Yes." Hoarse as only a throat raw from bile could be, her monosyllabic greeting made her wince and clear her throat.

"Have you given thought to our proposal?"

Suddenly sharp green eyes glanced over to the nightstand, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. The packet that had been delivered early in the evening was resting on the nightstand where she'd placed it as she began to drift off, vague thoughts of demanding the impossible as her collateral floating through her mind alongside the details of the outlined deal.

Her jaw clenched, making the muscles of her cheek and neck stand out as she inhaled slowly, speaking with careful deliberance. "What do I get if I agree?"

The cool tones that sounded down the wire were as she had dreamt. "A death from old age."

A long, slow count to ten accompanied her exhalation, gathering herself before giving the answer that would seal her fate. "...I accept." Moving silently, she replaced the handset with a soft, deliberate click.

Confusion and uncertainty swirled within her, a living thing that grew with every new breath. A new life opened before her.

Caden wouldn't have to lie and tell people his mom travelled a lot. He could say she worked in the government - an altogether different kind of lie, but one that meant she could actually be with him. They'd actually be able to live together, just like Caden had suggested the previous week.

And maybe...

Maybe...maybe now she could approach Kim as an equal. As herself.

Instead of as Shego.


End file.
